The present invention relates to displaying caller ID information, and more specifically, to displaying caller ID information in an environment with broadband telephony service.
For many years voice telephone service was implemented over a circuit switched network commonly known as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and controlled by a local telephone service provider. In such systems, the analog electrical signals representing the conversation are transmitted between the two telephone handsets on a dedicated twisted-pair-copper-wire circuit. More specifically, each telephone (i.e. one at the end placing the call and the other to the end receiving the call) is coupled to its respective local switching station on a dedicated pair of copper wires known as a subscriber loop. When a telephone call is placed, the circuit is completed by dynamically coupling each subscriber loop through its local switching station to a dedicated pair of copper wires between the two local switching stations. Once it is placed, the call causes a signaling, universally known as xe2x80x9cringingxe2x80x9d, in the receiving telephone. As will be discussed below, the signal causing the ringing may also convey certain information. Once the call is answered, the circuit is completed between the calling phone and the receiving phone. This is a classic circuit-switched network. A main advantage of it the circuit is connected and continually capable of carrying information (in this case, a voice audio signal) for as long as the call duration is in progress. A disadvantage is that this is wasteful, inasmuch as resources are constantly used for as long as the circuit is complete, whether or not information is being transmitted (e.g. during periods of silence).
Although over a century old, the PSTN has proven amenable to upgrades and adding new functionality to the extant PSTN. Recently, xe2x80x9ccaller IDxe2x80x9d functionality has been added to PSTN systems. Caller ID, as is well-known, provides means for the recipient of a call to know who is placing that call, without actually answering the call. The PSTN service provider may, for example, provide Caller ID information to the recipient of a call by including frequency shift key (FSK) modulated signals after the second ring signal that includes Caller ID information such as the caller telephone number and the name of the person to which the caller telephone number is assigned.
At the called station, the FSK signals can be decoded by a Caller ID circuit and displayed to the callee. The Caller ID circuit has been embodied in a stand alone unit which would be coupled to the PSTN line between the callee""s telephone and the local switching station, ordinarily at a point proximate to the caller""s telephone. The stand alone Caller ID unit would include the Caller ID circuit and a means for conveying the Caller ID information, the means being most typically a small screen such an LCD screen.
In an alternative to the stand-alone Caller ID unit, the Caller ID circuit has also been incorporated directly into in a PSTN telephone. In this embodiment, the telephone itself includes the Caller ID circuit and a display screen for displaying the Caller ID information.
In yet another alternative device of the prior art, a stand alone box provides for displaying the Caller ID information on a television. The stand alone box is also coupled to the PSTN line and is simultaneously coupled to the cable line that provides a video signal to the television. Such a unit includes the above-described PSTN Caller ID circuit for decoding the FSK signals and also includes an image overlay circuit for putting a signal representing a text representation of the Caller ID information into the video signal such that the resultant video signal provided to the television includes the text Caller ID information overlaid over the image contained in the original video signal.
The aforementioned equipment has served satisfactorily in the past, in which the television and telephone signals were separately supplied, i.e., the television signals were supplied via coaxial cable, and the telephone signals were supplied via the twisted-pair copper long common to the PSTN network. This arrangement seemed to work well, because voice communications were thought to best benefit from a circuit-switched network, while data communications were thought to best benefit from a packet-switched network. However, advances in packet switched network bandwidth (e.g. advances in data transmission) have made it possible for telephone conversations to be communicated using a packet-switched architecture over networks such as a Hybrid Fiber Cable (HFC) network (or a pure coaxial cable network) that also communicates television programming and Internet traffic along with telephony communications. Thus, new technology has emerged in which the television and telephone signals are jointly supplied via a single broadband line, e.g. coaxial cable. This single broadband line will carry television programming and Internet traffic along with telephony signals. When voice telephony is provided in this manner it is no longer being provided by a circuit-switched network but rather by a packet-switched network. Such packet-switched network equipment is designed to interoperate with classic telephone equipment, by including a customer gateway through which a standard telephone may be connected. The customer gateway will perform functions comprising digital-to-analog conversion, and will digitally generate and output to the telephone a an analog signal signal which is equivalent to that provided by the PSTN; as such, a xe2x80x9cvirtual PSTNxe2x80x9d is provided to the standard telephone equipment. Given the comparative abundance of bandwidth available, most customer gateways will provide a plurality of separate telephone numbers, and will provide separate outputs for each.
In order for Caller ID equipment which is made for use with the circuit-switched network to work with the Virtual PSTN, the customer gateway must replicate the FSK signal on the line corresponding to each telephone number, and each line must be provided with its own Caller ID display. This becomes cumbersome and expensive, particularly when several telephone numbers are provided as standard outputs, as each standard output requires its own unique twisted line pair emerging from the customer gateway (most commonly, each emerges through an RJ-11 modular connection). Even more than cumbersome and expensive, it becomes virtually impossible when the lines are provided as IP telephony lines, as such have no ability to provide Caller ID Data for display using standard Caller ID Data which coupled to the IP telephony lines.
What is needed is a Caller ID display system that provides for a more convenient display of Caller ID information in a system wherein telephone service is provided over a broadband network.
A first aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for display of Caller ID information in a system wherein telephone service is provided over a broadband network. The broadband network may be a packet switched coaxial cable network or a hybrid fiber/cable network. The broadband network may provide to the apparatus both television programming and telephone communication services. The apparatus may have as its input a single coaxial cable connector for coupling to the broadband network.
The apparatus may have as its output both a telephone output means and a video signal output means. The telephone output means may comprise at least one of a plurality of means for providing a telephony signal of at least one type of telephone device. The telephony signal may be a voice-over-IP signal compatible with an IP telephony telephone device or may be an analog or PSTN digital telephony signal compatible with a standard telephone. The video signal output means may comprise circuits for providing an analog or digital video signal for providing an image on a video device such as a television.
The image may include the television programming provided on the broad band network along with a representation of caller ID data associated with a telephone call to one of the telephone devices supported by the apparatus. The caller ID data may include data representing the caller and line information representing to which one of the telephone devices the call was placed.
This indication, in simple terms, indicates to the callee on which line the call is coming in. In each case, the image is overlaid on the picture of a television which the callee may be watching, thus easily informing him or her of details about the incoming call.
A second aspect of the present invention is to provide a customer gateway for communicating with a service provider network. The service provider network provides television programming for display on a video device and telephony communications for supporting at least one telephone device. The customer gateway comprises a service provider network interface circuit for receiving frames from the service provider network. The frames comprise television programming frames and telephony frames. The telephony frames include caller ID data. The customer gateway further comprises a telephony processing circuit that includes means for translating telephony frames to telephone signals compliant with the at least one telephone device and means for providing the caller ID data to a television circuit. The television circuit comprises means for receiving the television programming frames and generating a television programming signal compliant with a receiver associated with the video device and means for receiving and overlaying the caller ID data on a portion of a video image represented by the television programming signal.
The means for translating telephony frames to telephone signals may comprise a PSTN circuit for generating a PSTN compliant telephone signal to each of a plurality of PSTN ports or may comprise a voice-over-IP circuit for maintaining a real-time communication channel with each of the at least one telephone device through a network port.
The means for providing the caller ID data comprises means for providing an identification of the at least one telephone device to which the call is placed and the means for receiving and overlaying the caller ID data on a portion of the video image comprises means for receiving and overlaying the caller ID data and the identification of the at least one telephone device on the video image.
A third aspect of the present invention is to provide an image overlay circuit for coupling between a video display device and a frame switched network from which a frame of data representing caller ID information and video programming may be received. The image overlay circuit comprises a network interface for coupling to the frame switched network and for receiving the frame of data representing caller ID information and a frame of data representing the video programming and a video signal generating circuit for generating a video signal for display on the video display device. The video signal comprises an overlay of a pixel graphic representing the Caller ID information on the video programming. The frame of data representing the caller ID information further includes an identification of with which of a plurality of telephone devices the caller ID information is associated and the video signal generating circuit further provides for the video signal comprising an overlay of a pixel graphic representing the identification on the video programming.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is to provide a method of processing caller ID data. A step comprises receiving frames from a service provider, the frames comprising television programming frames and telephony frames. The telephony frames including caller ID data. Other steps comprise translating telephony frames to telephone signals compliant with the at least one telephone device, translating the caller ID data to an image representing the caller ID data, translating the television programming frames to a television programming signal representing a television image for display on an associated video device, and combining the image representing the caller ID data with the television programming signal such that the television image includes the image representing the caller ID data overlaid over a portion of the television image.
The step of translating telephony frames to telephone signals may further comprises translating the telephony frames to telephone PSTN compliant signals and coupling each PSTN compliant signal to one of a plurality of PSTN ports, or, may further comprise translating the telephony frames to frames compatible with a real-time communication channel over a frame switched network with each of a plurality of frame-switched telephone devices coupled thereto.
The step of combining the image representing the caller ID data with the television programming signal may further comprises combining an image of information representing with which of the plurality of PSTN ports or frame-switched telephone devices the caller ID is associated.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is also to provide a method of processing caller ID data. The method of this fifth aspect comprises receiving a frame of data representing video programming from a frame switched network, receiving a frame of data representing caller ID information from the frame switched network, and generating a video signal for display on a video display device. The video signal comprises an overlay of a pixel graphic representing the Caller ID information on an image represented by the video programming.
The method may further comprises receiving a frame of data representing an identification of with which of a plurality of telephone devices the caller ID information is associated and the signal may further comprises an overlay of the identification on the image represented by the video programming.
A sixth aspect of the present invention is to provide a customer gateway for communicating with a service provider network. The service provider network provides telephony communications for supporting at least one telephone device, The customer gateway comprises a service provider network interface circuit for receiving frames from the service provider network. The frames include caller ID information and include real time streaming media. The gateway further comprises a telephony processing circuit that includes means for sending a frame representing the real time streaming media to a network telephone device at a first network address and means for sending a frame representing the caller ID information to a caller ID device at a second network address.
The telephony processing circuit may further include means for sending a frame representing the caller ID information to the network telephone device at the first network address, means for identifying with which one of a plurality of virtual subscriber loops the caller ID information is associated, and means for sending an indication of such identification to the second network address.
For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further aspects thereof, reference is made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.